1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a gourd powder composition useful as nutritious foods and beverages.
2. Related Art Statement
The gourd is a highly nutritious food containing a well-balanced combination of sugar, fiber, protein, vitamins, calcium, pectin etc. and therefore has been eaten for food from old times. For instance, dried gourd shavings are called "kanpyo" and have long been used popularly as ingredients of "sushi" and other dishes. The dried gourd shavings have a water content of as high as 15 to 40% in themselves. Moreover, as it is highly nutritious, it is prone to gather bacteria and mold. Thus, 3 or 4 months after preparation, it suffers a change in properties such as color, odor, taste, etc. and quality, which requires much care for storage thereof accordingly.
In order to keep the quality of dried gourd shavings, there has been proposed a storage method in which they are fumigated with sulfur, bleached, and sterilized [Japanese Patent Publication no.21292/1982: "Food Industry", Vol.3, Book II, P.52 (1983)]. However, residue of sulfur is unavoidable in this method. As is regulated by the Food Sanitation Act of Japan (i.e., the amount of residual sulfur in terms of sulfur dioxide should not be greater than 5 g per kg of food), sulfur is harmful to human and therefore the presence of any residual sulfur is undesirable. Accordingly, dried gourd shavings need to be washed in water prior to eating and this causes most of the water-soluble nutrients (such as sugars, pectin, vitamins, etc.) present therein to be washed away.
In order to overcome the above-described disadvantages, there has been proposed a gourd food made without bleaching by fumigation with sulfur (unbleached dried gourd). This unbleached dried gourd food is quite safe from the viewpoint of food sanitation, highly nutritious, and has good keeping quality, so that it can be eaten for nourishing purpose. In addition, it is known that the dried gourd contains a plenty of food fiber (Japanese Patent Laid-open no.32458/1988).
Recently, it has been found that the dried gourd has an effect of promoting the growth of Bifidobacterium species selectively and markedly (Japanese Patent Application no.123761/1987).
Moreover, in recent years, food fibers have attracted public attention due to the fact that they have the effects of activating the reflex in the intestines and removing coprostasis and that few patients with rectum cancer have been found in the nations having plenty of food fibers.
As the dried gourd also has an effect of promoting the growth of Lactobacillus bifidus that depress the intestinal putrefaction and improve the diarrhea and the constipation, it is of more importance than other general food fibers.
The processed unbleached dried gourd is available in the form of ribbons, or is processed to powder or granule form; it, however, is grassy-smelling peculiar thereto and, due to its high content of sugars and protein, it tends to stick to teeth or teethridges, causing some onerousness in eating. For these reasons, the dried gourd in the form of ribbons has been eaten by cooking: the ones in the form of powder or granule by adding to "miso" soup or sprinkling on salad.
The present inventors, at first, tried to overcome the problems of being grassy-smelling and stickiness to teeth and teethridges using the following well-known additives; various spicery; acidity such as citric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, etc.; sugars such as saccharose, lactose, mannitol, sorbitol, reduced maltose, etc.; antitack agents such as crystal cellulose, carboxymethylcellulose, carboxymethylcellulose calcium, etc.
However, the simultaneous solution of the two problems could not be achieved.
Furthermore, it is known that dried gourd has been eaten in the form of solid as in the case of unbleached dried gourd but until now it is not known that it is used as beverages. The reason for this is that when powder or granule of gourd is put in water or water-base beverages, non-water-soluble component is precipitated in a short time.
The present inventors, at first, tried to achieve deflocculation of the powder of gourd fruit using the following well-known additives to form beverages
(1) a thickener such as sodium carboxymethylcellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, powder of gum arabic, starch, polyvinylpyrrolidone, etc.; and (2) a surfactant such as polyethylene glycol, glycerin fatty acid ester, stearic acid polyoxyl 40, saccharose fatty acid ester, etc.
However, using these well-known additives, beverages could not be obtained that were deflocculated stably for a long time when added in coffee, tea, boiling water and that also had a good taste.